The other day I came across the following story about a translation blunder. I hope you'll like it too.

Disadvantage of Knowing a Foreign Language

During World War II Admiral Canaris, then head of the Nazi intelligence service, received a report from his Spanish agents on a conference of F.D. Roosevelt and W. Churchill to be held in Casablanca, a city in Northern Africa, in 1943.

The linguistically-minded Nazi master-spy thought that Casablanca was just the Spanish for the White (blanka) House (Casa) and concluded that the meeting would take place in Washington, USA and consequently out of reach of Nazi agents.

The story reminds me of another well-know joke that every military translator must always remember the difference between obstacles and testicles.

When an American force was surrounded by the Nazis in a town during the Ardennes counteroffensive later in 1944 they received an ultimatum with a demand to surrender. The Nazis received a short reply which made German interpreters rack their brains as to its meaning. It contained one word only "Nuts."

And here is something to puzzle even experienced interpreters. Try to take it in stride and get the point.

A Puzzle for Star Interpreters

A rank-happy lieutenant from a parachute unit had to hit the silk in a hurry. So he stepped out of the exit, counted six, and pulled his rank.

"A student of military English asked the language instructor: "I don't know what make of the sentence: 'If possible, the attack should be sand-tabled so that infantry and tanks understand what others are going to do'."
The instructor enquired: "You know what a sand table used for?"
"Sure. For kittens."

A report reached unit headquarters that a dump had been captured with toxic agents. A group of chemical warfare experts were rushed to the place. They saw many drums marked with the word 'gas'. A drum was opened with great precautions by gas masked specialists who found it contained – gasoline.